I am writing this post because venerating the ancestors has become a very popular tradition lately and when I first started honoring my ancestors. Since, there was no one around to assist me I simply followed what everyone else did without having any understanding of the purpose. This is therefore, my understanding of the process based upon my experience.

For the record honoring one’s ancestors is humanity’s most ancient and oldest traditional practice. Humanity has been honoring their dead ever since the first man and woman wondered what happens after death. In fact, the caring for the dead is one of the significant factors that distinguish human being from animals. Although animals do grieve for their dead, animals lack the mental capabilities of caring for their dead as human beings do. This is why human beings are the only species on the planet that perform elaborate rituals wishing that their dead find peace in the hereafter.

It is for this reason every culture has some type of ritual practice in place assuring that their dead loved ones find peace in the hereafter because it is one of the features that makes us human. That being said, there is no right or wrong way to wish that your deceased loved ones rest in peace. This is the reason regardless of our culture and ethnicity, we all can identify with the various ways of honoring the dead rather it be a moment of silence, the setting a deceased body aflame, the setting a light out to sea, etc. Without even having a full understanding of another’s cultural beliefs. The is due to the fact that the ritual transcends logical thinking because we all have one thing in common and that is that we will all eventually face Death.

So any sect that does not abhor or support this basic essential human practice is a cult that is not only created to control and dominate your thoughts in life (and in death), but is also trying to deny you of your humanity and ultimately your free will. Let me explain.

The most powerful organ human beings have is our mind, which consists of a superconscious, subconscious and conscious. Although, the mind is composed of these three parts, technically speaking there is only one mind, it just moves into these three states of awareness. For instance, right now you are consciously reading this post, while subconsciously your heart is pumping blood, which transfers oxygen and vital nutrients throughout your body; as ideas superconsciously pop into your awareness. Hence the human being is a kingdom within.

This is because your subconscious was created to help you to physically survive and it does this by governing all of your memories, which it plays back automatically or what we call a habit. This means that your heartbeat, the digestion of your food, breathing responses and everything that your body does automatically is technically a program or more like a computer program. Your conscious mind is the part of your being that makes decisions of what is passed or impressed upon your subconscious. In other words, your conscious mind also called the soul is what determines if you should read something or not based upon what you believe and think. The superconscious is responsible for taking what you believe and making it a reality.

So, when the first human beings died, their loved ones were at a loss because they had never encountered death. All they knew was that there was a great emptiness and sorrow that they felt. Every culture around the world experienced this same loss when they first encountered death and described pretty much in the same way, how they coped with this strong and painful emotional that they felt. Many cultures, including the Kamitic culture explain that the early human beings not understanding how to clearly express the sorrow they felt in death and the desire in their heart for their loved ones to be a part of them, resulted to cannibalism. Understand that ritual cannibalism was humanity’s desire to express that one’s deceased loved one was a part of them. It was an extension of the hunting ritual in which a hunter consumed the heart of an animal to absorb its’ prowess and strength. This is the origin of the Eucharist or Holy Communion, which is the most important religious ritual practice in Christianity.

Catholic Relics

Other cultures resulted in taking body parts of their deceased loved ones, properly known as relics. To this day, there are a number of relics possessed by the Roman Catholic Church. Again, as bizarre and macabre as this may sound, the whole purpose of this ritual is to cope and subdue the overwhelming emotion of loss caused by death.

The reason these various rituals dealing with death came into existence in the first place is because our subconscious you will recall is the most logical part of our being and its purpose is to help us to physically survive based upon our beliefs. Since death is a natural phenomenon that we will all experience but there is no logical explanation as to why we die. Our subconscious, which processes everything that we experience like a logical computer, would have concluded that since there is no explanation as to why we die, there is no real explanation as to why we should live. Therefore, when early humans consumed part of the remains of their deceased loved ones or took a relic (body part of the dead), they in essence was trying to impress upon their subconscious a higher purpose of living rather it be to provide sustenance or to continue to provide life, to the community, as the meat of an animal did.

Kamitic Statues

It is not officially known why ritual cannibalism fell out of practice. It is believed most likely that the tradition fell out of practice due to the rise of transmitted diseases (most likely through pests and rodents) and/or the lack of relics that could be shared by the living, which consequently resulted in mummification, burying and/or burning their dead. (It should be noted that the reason a few cultures continue to burn the body of the deceased is because they have not consciously evolved past the ancient global belief regarding the dead. Some more evolved cultures on the other hand reserved the burning of the deceased body to members of nobility in order to ensure that relics were not stolen from their enemies. The last thing one wanted in ancient times was to fight an opposing tribal clan who possessed the skull, right hand or femur bone of a beloved dead leader. The psychological impact of such occurrence would have been devastating).Whatever the case, a new way of wishing the dead peace was needed to relieve humanity of the horrendous emotion caused by death. Consequently, enters religious thought to address the haunting question what happens after death.

Viking Funeral Pyre

Since the Kamitic (Ancient Egyptians) were one of the first cultures to address this psychological problem and provided the foundation for Western religious belief, we will use them as a model to explain how humanity tackled this daunting issue.

Early Kamitic Mummies

It must be understood that prior to this moment, all of humanity cared for their dead the same way. All of humanity faced the same psychological issue with the rotting bodies and desire to rid themselves of the emotional pain due to death. So, in response, some wise Kamitic men and women conceptualized that there was a part of the human being that continued to live after death, which is the reason we all felt some sort of loss when our loved one died. This part that continued to live they conceptualized as being the soul, which was separate from the physical body, thus making the physical body a vehicle for the soul. This made it possible for the body of the deceased to be cared for and grieved but at the same time not consumed or kept as a relic because the soul of the deceased was the vital element and it continued to exist outside of the body. It was also due to this new global belief that it became possible for the living to wish their deceased loved ones peace by simply keeping an item that contains a fragment or piece of the soul, such as the last items used by the deceased or some image of the deceased such as a statuary or figurine. It was from this idea that ancestor veneration was born.

Venerating the Dead

Some scholars I have noted will try to claim that Kamitic people worshipped death but, these are individuals with a limited understanding of the human psyche. The idea behind the conception of the soul meant that human beings no longer needed to consume the flesh or take a relic in order to relieve themselves of the emotional pain caused by death. All they needed to do was to physically acknowledge and respect death by providing a memorable burial either by burying and or mummifying their dead, which signified that their loved one was indeed physically dead. If they were still consumed by the heavy burden of grief, they could remember their deceased loved ones in thought. Technically speaking, because the dead do not have a physical body they cannot be hungry or thirsty since food and drink is meant to sustain the body that they no longer possess. The belief that one’s ancestors are hungry and thirsty is simply an individual’s way of coping with the death experience. The idea behind saying that one’s ancestors are hungry and thirsty is to remind an individual of the reason why they should continue to live because of the sacrifices that other’s made for their benefit.

Honoring the lives of soldiers

So the main purpose of honoring one’s ancestors is to remember the sacrifices that those who lived before you made. If you do not remember the sacrifices that were made, then you will live your life based upon the erroneous belief that you and you alone are responsible for your evolution and survival. Not only that, you are not reminded of the purpose of living or inspired to live for a higher purpose such as to improve the quality of life for your loved ones or humanity overall. It should now become clear why Osar (Asar, Ausar, Osiris in Greek) was considered the most important ancestor or Lord of the Dead in the Kamitic tradition, and why Jesus is considered the Lord of the Dead in Christianity. You will also find this same reference in other cultures such Buddha the Lord in Buddha, Yama in Asian mythologies and so on. By the way, this is the reason every culture has a day to honor the dead rather it be Memorial Day, Hungry Ghost Day, Day of the Dead, etc.

Buddhist Obon Festival to honor the dead

Now, some cultures like the Africans (and many of their descendants), many Asian and Latin Americans take the remembering of the dead a step further because they understand the psychology behind the practice. It is in their celebration of death, that you see from a reverse psychological perspective the beauty of life and vice versa.

This is because since we all will physically die one day, most of us do not fear death. We have been comforted by the belief that our soul will continue to exist after death, so we do not fear death. We do however fear how we will die. in other words, most people wonder if they will die peacefully in their sleep or painfully kicking and fighting as we are dragged off to the other side.

So, many Africans and Asians continued to explore upon the concept of death in an effort to relieve us of the burdensome question of how to secure a glorious afterlife. It was discovered for some that they need to honor their dead every day, while others only needed to honor their ancestors once a month or a year. In some cultures, honoring the ancestors was the responsibility of the head of the household usually the men (or the eldest son) since traditionally it was the men who maintained law and order. In other cultures, it was the responsibility of gifted men, gifted or barren women, who were viewed as shamans, because of their responsibility to guide the tribal community. All of which, later developed into a cultural practice. This is the reason there is no right or wrong way to honor one’s ancestors and one does not need to belong to a particular religion to honor his or her ancestors. Honoring one’s ancestors is a human spiritual tradition.

Chinese burning money for the dead.

Now, the cultural practices that developed was to put one’s mind at ease by ensuring that their ancestor was at peace. To keep the ancestor on good terms, it was important that the ancestor feel that they were not forgotten, remembered for his or her honorable deeds, and believed to continue to be a vital member of the community. Hence the rituals that developed from this understanding, was the offering food and drink to the ancestors, burning money for their ancestors so that they will enjoy their afterlife, and so on.

For the same reason, those who honor their ancestors, altars reflect what they believe the afterlife will be for their deceased loved ones and them in return. Many Asian ancestor altars like African and African descendant altars are usually either close to the floor or mid – ranged level, consisting of foods and other gifts that the dead will enjoy. My own altar is a reflection of my Kamitic and Kongo inspired beliefs, indicating that when I physically die my soul will return to the house or village where all my deceased loved ones dwell. I will be able to see my grandparents, great uncles and aunts whom I briefly met and knew in life.

As you can see, this is a non-Western cultural thought, which is not taught but developed as a result of honoring the dead. In addition to this, many believe that if the ancestors are well taken care of they will in return assist the living. This simply means that the ancestors will relieve them of the emotional pain – particularly fear – brought upon them by death. In other words, after honoring one’s ancestors one should be happy or feel at peace, because in the process or remembering one’s ancestors, they are being reminded that they are spiritual beings having a physical experience. And, in the end, because they honor the living memories of those who died before them, they will have a glorious afterlife as well. This is the reason most people who honor their ancestors do not fear death. Many will attest that they are more courageous because they feel that their ancestors protect and guide them from danger. The general belief or explanation is said to be that the ancestors continue to have an interest in the life of the living.

Afro-diaspora ancestral altar

So, if you do not honor your ancestors or are simply honoring your ancestors out of tradition with no real explanation as to why you are engaged in the practice, you are not addressing the basic question regarding humanity, which is “What happens after death?” With no clear and practical explanation as to what happens after death, you will not have any purpose or reason to live. You will feel as if your purpose is to simply exist at the whims of the forces of nature or even God. With no purpose, you are not only, not fulfilling your destiny but on a course to eventually self-destruct because your subconscious mind, whose purpose is to physically survive. Will literally do whatever it can to stave off death, for example the numerous unnatural practices behind cosmetic and plastic surgery. In traditional non-Western culture, we look forward to old age because it is sign of peace, prosperity and maturity.

Hope this helps.

Hetep (Peace)

For more information on The Science of Honoring Your Ancestors, check out: Maa Aankh Vol. 3